I’m not going to get in the middle of Ramesh’s tussle with this Goldstein guy. But I would like to offer one modest defense raised by Ramesh’s post below. The essence of Goldstein’s epic broadside against Ramesh is that Ramesh is essentially a partisan hack. Ramesh’s attack on Tribe, according to Goldstein, was without merit and therefore Ramesh’s only motive could have been to discredit Tribe in advance of the coming judicial nomination battles. Anybody who knows Ramesh understands that this interpretation says far more about Goldstein than it does about Ramesh. But consider the fact that Ramesh is against the so-called nuclear option (as is the magazine). Presumably, if Ramesh were a hired gun for rightwing judges he would have no problem adopting this argument. Indeed, it would be far easier — and more useful to the cause — for him to adopt this position then go so far out of his way to go after Larry Tribe.

Anyway, I don’t want to get in the crossfire — and I don’t want Goldstein registering all the JonahGoldberg.com domain names either. I just think that arguments about motives are usually silly and for them to be true you have to find a larger pattern of behavior that fits that motive. No one who’s read Ramesh over the years could find any such pattern because he’s an intellectually honest guy.